Coming off a 30-24 loss at home to Kansas last weekend, Kansas State will try to show itself and the nation that the Wildcats are still a contender in the Big 12 North. But K-State will face a Colorado team that has won three straight and remains close to the Wildcats in nearly every statistical category, including the series record since 1995. The teams have split the last 12 contests entering Saturday night's battle in Manhattan that will be televised by ESPN2.

"We're going to play hard and fight and do those things and this gives us an opportunity to demonstrate something very important, to have the maturity to put a lot of good games and a lot of good quarters of football together," K-State coach Ron Prince said on Monday. "That was an opportunity we had from a big-picture scheme. We have the opportunity to show now we can come back from this and not get in some kind of funk.

"When you look at it from the big-picture standpoint we want to demonstrate we can play well here at home and take advantage of the crowd and momentum. Anytime you get a chance to play on TV and demonstrate your abilities that's a good thing. We're using today to move forward."

K-State dropped to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the Big 12 in suffering its second loss to Kansas in as many years. The Wildcats will get a little extra time to prepare for a potential rebound as they will meet Colorado, 4-2 and 2-0, for a 8:15 p.m. kickoff at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. Prince said the team would devote the extra time during the day toward meetings.